Electric incinerator



t adapted to provide a draft through the combustion United States PatentO ELECTRIC lNClNERAToR Robert A. Kuehler, Cleveland Heights, hio,assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New YorkApplication April 25, 1957, Serial No. 655,066

1 Claim. (Cl. 219-19) This invention relates to electric incinerators,and has as its principal object the provision of an incinerator providedwith radiant heating elements arranged to cause combustion of refuse andalso further combustion of the resulting gaseous products of combustion.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent asthe following description proceeds, and the features of novelty whichcharacterize the invention will be pointed out with the particularity inthe claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be made to thefollowing description and the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation view, partly in section, of an incineratorembodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a diagram of a control circuit which may be utilized tocontrol operation of the incinerator shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 an incineratorhaving an outer sheet metal housing 1, surrounding a casing 2 formed ofheat resistant material, such as cast asbestos cement, enclosing acombustion chamber 3. Casing 2 is supported in housing 1 by suitablesupporting members 4 and 5 and is provided with a door opening in thefront wall thereof closed by a door 6. Casing 2 is also provided with aflue opening 7 communicating with the upper portion of chamber 3 andarranged to be connected with a flue (not shown) l chamber. A grate 8,which may be formed from a pluirality of parallel metal bars, is locatedadjacent the l bottom of chamber 3 and arranged to support the refuseland other material to be burned. Underlying grate 8 is an ash drawer 9which may be removed from the in- .l cinerator through a front openinglocated below the main l opening closed by door 6. i The heat requiredto start and maintain combustion in t chamber 3 is supplied by aplurality of heat radiating elements 10 positioned in the upper portionof chamber i 3 somewhat below flue opening 7 and overlying grate 8.

One type of heat radiating element particularly suitable for use in thisinvention is an infrared heat lamp of the type including a coiledtungsten lament extending longitudinally within an elongated tubularsealed envelope of transparent quartz, such as the heat lamp disclosedin Patent 2,705,310-Hodge. Since it is desirable that the terminals ofsuch heat lamps be protected from the high ice l temperatures generatedby the lamp itself, the terminals of lamps 10 are positioned inoppositely disposed openings 11 and 12 in the front and rear walls ofcasing 10. To facilitate removal and replacement of lamps 10, socketconnector assemblies 13 and 14 are removably supported on the front andrear walls of housing 1.

As shown in Fig. 1, the upper portions of the side walls of casing 2 areinwardly inclined so that the cross sectional area of chamber 3immediately below tlue opening 7 is substantially smaller than that inthe main combustion area, and hence the gaseous products of combustionresulting from the burning of material in chamber 3 must pass in closeproximity to heat lamps 10 before passing out through the ilue. Inasmuchas the temperature in the vicinity of lamps 10 is between 1500 F. and2000 F., oxidation of the smoke and other gases will be completed beforethese gases reach ue 7 and consequently only water and carbon dioxidewill be discharged through the flue opening. It will, of course, beunderstood that the heat radiated by lamps 10 will dry and finallyignite any refuse deposited in chamber 3 and that lamps 10, therefore,perform both the function of heating chamber 3 to combustiontemperatures, and also completing the combustion of smoke and othergases generated during the burning process.

Referring to Fig. 3, heat radiating elements 10 may be connected inparallel with each other in a control circuit including a control switch15 operated by a control knob 16 and a timer switch 17 operated by atimer control knob 18, the control knobs being mounted on the frontpanel of housing 1 as illustrated in Fig. 1. Alternatively, heatingelements 10 may be energized and controlled through a control circuit ofthe type disclosed in Patent 2,783,723-Loewenthal et al.

While I have shown and described a particular em-` bodiment of myinvention, I do not desire the invention to be limited to the particularconstruction disclosed, and I intend by the appended claim to cover allmodifications within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

`.lVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

An electric incinerator comprising a casing enclosing a combustionchamber, a grate adjacent the bottom of said chamber, said casing havinga flue opening communicating with the upper portion of said chamber, anda plurality of elongated horizontally disposed infrared heat lampssupported in the upper portion of said chamber in mutually parallelrelation above said grate but below said ue opening, whereby refuseresting on said grate may 'be heated by infrared radiation, and gaseousproducts of combustion formed in said chamber pass in close proximity toand are heated by said lamps before passing through said flue opening.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,032,267 Bastian July 9, 1912 1,093,592 Rice Apr. 14, 1914 2,010,460McKinley Aug. 6, 1935 2,705,310 Hodge Mar. 29, 1955 2,733,331 Call Jan.31, 1956 2,798,928 Friedberg Iuly 9, 1957

